HC Deb 10 June 1993 vol 226 cc417-8
1. Mr. Hunter

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if she will make a further statement on the working of the IACS scheme.

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Mrs. Gillian Shephard)

Some 157,000 applications were received in the United Kingdom by the 15 May deadline. The applications are now being checked to determine eligibility for aid.

Mr. Hunter

I warmly welcome my right hon. Friend to her new responsibilities. My question related overtly and covertly to the crushing burden of bureacracy which is gradually suffocating and strangling United Kingdom agriculture. During what I hope will be a long, happy and successful term for my right hon. Friend as Minister, will she make it a priority to deal with that dire problem?

Mrs. Shephard

I assure my hon. Friend that I will certainly make dealing with that burden a priority during my time at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, however long or short that may be. I am aware that the completion of the integrated administration and control system forms has been a burden for farmers, although they are aware that completing the forms will bring them £1 billion of aid this year. We have received congratulations from the National Farmers Union on behalf of farmers for the help and advice that have been administered through our regional offices.

Mr. John D. Taylor

I also welcome the Minister to her new position in the Government. Does she agree that there has been a good response from the farmers in the United Kingdom? Can she give us an idea of what the response has been elsewhere in the European Community? Is it on a par with the response in the United Kingdom?

Mrs. Shephard

I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his kind welcome. I agree that there has been a good and responsible response from our farmers. I am not yet in a position to say exactly how the farmers in the rest of the EC have responded. I shall be able to do so after Monday, when I shall be attending my first Agriculture Council, at which I shall be able to take soundings.

Mr. Lord

I also welcome my right hon. Friend to her position. There will be no shortage of support from the Conservative Benches for her in her battles against any Euro-nonsense. In the kindest possible way, may I put her on notice that those of us who represent agricultural constituencies will, in time, want clear evidence that farmers in the other 11 countries have had to cope with their problems in the same way as ours have had to do?

Mrs. Shephard

After thanking my hon. Friend for his welcome, perhaps I may reassure him that one of the first things that I did was to look at the forms that other member states are asking their farmers to complete. They make interesting reading—the German form is thorough and the French form is fearsome; there are appropriate comparisons across the Community. What matters is the way in which the forms are completed and enforcement is carried out.

Mr. Martyn Jones

I also welcome the Minister to her new brief. What percentage of those forms have contained mistakes? Will her Department be as flexible as possible in dealing with any errors that become obvious to the civil servants?

Mrs. Shephard

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his welcome. It is too early to say how many incomplete or erroneous forms we have received. I can assure the hon. Gentleman that we do not want to penalise simple mistakes. Farmers must correct their errors before we spot them, but we shall he as flexible as possible.